The supercomputer Mistral, located at the Deutsche Klimarechenzentrum (DKRZ) in Hamburg. Most of HD(CP)²'s model simulations are done here (photo: DKRZ).

A typical anvil cloud - observed at the Narval-II field campaign (photo: MPI-M).

Ready for observations: view outside the cockpit on one of the Narval-II research flights (photo: MPI-M).

Sunset flight at the Narval-II field campaign (photo: MPI-M).

Some of the scientists who attended the Narval-II campaign (photo: MPI-M).

Launch of a radiosonde at the Nawdex field campaign (photo: G. Craig).

A first outcome of the Small Scale ICON Workshop - ICON simulations over a specially defined area with resolutions higher than 156m (figure: M. Brück).

Near surface winds, navigation directions and the doldrums over the tropical Atlantic. (Fig: Maury, M. F., The physical geography of the sea and its meteorology, 1864).

Spatial distribution of the measurement sites and networks at the supersite Jülich during the HD(CP)² Observational Prototype Experiment (HOPE)

Overview on the supersite instrumentation during the HOPE campaign.

HD(CP)² is a BMBF funded Germany-wide research initiative to improve our understanding of cloud and precipitation processes and their implications for climate prediction.

Already working in its second phase (April 17 – March 19), the HD(CP)² project addresses cloud and precipitation (CP) processes which constitute one of the largest uncertainties in current weather and climate prediction models. This CP roadblock is addressed by a number of scientific questions that all deal with very different aspects of cloud formation, evolution and precipitation. The project utilizes the ICON-LEM (ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic Large Eddy Model) that provides an previously unknown horizontal resolution of 156m to actually resolve CP processes. High-resolution hindcast simulations are performed over very diverse regions, such as Germany and the Tropical Atlantic. A first look at the different hindcast simulations can be done here.

The first funding period of HD(CP)² focused on the optimization of the ICON model for the large-eddy simulations and on the improvement of ground, in situ and satellite based observations of cloud and precipitation events. A project-own observation campaign was run and its data is freely available to the scientific community.